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Historical Notes of 
riilledgeville, Ga. 

BY 
UIvRICH BONNELL PHII.UPS, Ph. D. 

Instructor in History in the University of Wisconsin 



m 



PUBLISHED IN 

TAe Gulf States Historical Magazine 

November, 1903 



HISTORICAL NOTES OF MILLEDGEVILLE, GA. 

By Ulrich Bonnp:i.l Phillips, Ph. D., Instructor in History in the 
University of Wisconsin. 

Milledgeville was a fairl}' typical iinprogressive village in 
Middle Georgia; a town iii the midst of a region where town 
life was overshadowed by the prominence of the plantation 
system. The merchants and the innkeepers and perchance the 
lawyers, twirled their thumbs or whittled soft pine through- 
out the spring and summer, until with the arrival of autumn 
the neighboring planters began to drop in and market their 
cotton, and the politicians began to arrive from all directions 
to spend a month or two and make the laws of the land. 

Milledgeville owed its existence to a State enactment of ^ 
1803, which ordered its survey as a town and gave it its cum- ' 
brous name, when its site was still a wilderness but recentlj^ 
surrendered ,by the Indians. It owed such commercial im- 
portance as it came to have to its location at the head of navi- 
gation upon the Oconee river. It was a collecting point for 
cotton bound for the sea, and a distributing point for manu- 
factures from Europe and the North. But the Savannah and 
the Ocmulgee were greater streams, v^ath better navigation, 
and the merchants of Augusta and later of I\Iacon* were more 
enterprising. The commerce of Milledgeville, when once de- 
veloped, remained purely local and almost stationary. 

The town owed its political importance to an act of the 
Legislature in 1804, which selected it as the .seat of the State 
government before a dozen cabins had been built within its 
limits. But in 1S68 the capital was removed to Atlanta, and 
Milledgeville lost its political prop. The building of railroads, 
wdiich put an end to the river traffic, had alread}^ destro3-ed 
the commercial advantage which its location on the river bank 
had secured in the early period. The town accordingly stag- 
nated through Reconstruction and the following decades. 
Within ver}' recent years Milledgeville has unexpectedly 

* Macon was founded in 1822, forty miles west of Milledgeville, and 
quickly asserted a successful claim to a share of the commerce of the in- 
tervening: territorv. 



taken a firm hold upon itself and has done surprising things — 
surprising, at least, for Milledgeville. 

Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin, in 1793, 
moulded the subsequent history of Middle Georgia. The early 
settlers had lived as small farmers, raising corn and wheat and 
a little tobacco. But from 1800 the production of cotton 
grew so rapidly in importance that within a decade it over- 
shadowed all other forms of industry. The tide of immigra- 
tion was changed in character. Virginia and North Carolina 
planters left their tobacco lands for the more inviting cotton 
belt. They brought their slaves with them, and slave traders 
brought still others from the older States and the sea coast and 
sold them in the cotton region. By 18 10 the number of blacks 
in the vicinity of Milledgeville was about equal to that of the 
whites. As late as 1821 the Indian country was only a day's 
march to the west. Society in this region near the frontier 
was in the main primitive and rough; but a sprinkling of 
great planters gave here and there some atmosphere of dis- 
tinction and culture. 

Except for the great export staple there would have been 
little use for merchants or towns. But cotton had to be mar- 
keted, and Milledgeville was one of the centers. From the 
treaty of peace with England in 1815 to the great panic of 
1837 there were flush times in the cotton belt. Planters and 
farmers and slaves fared well, and commercial towns grew 
with some rapidity; but the plantation advantages attracted 
the chief attention. Merchants and lawyers were fond of in- 
vesting their earnings in lands and slaves; for the profits in 
cotton were heavy, and, moreover, it was deemed more honor- 
able to be a planter than to follow any other calling. The 
towns could barely hold their own against the attractions of 
the country. Some of the townsmen who turned planters 
continued to live in town; but the ideal site for a home was 
thought to be in the midst of a grove upon the crest of a hill 
an hour or two's drive outside the town. 

The town, however, was on Saturdays and court daj-s 
and throughout the autumn the scene of nuich activity. Its 
.streets and shops and court house were places for the dissemi- 
nation of news and the forming of public opinion. The in- 
teraction between town and country sentiment and institutions 



was very close. And any insight into town conditions is to 
be valued as giving a glimpse of the life of the old South, now 
so difficult for the student to reconstruct with faithfulness. 

Milledgeville was incorporated by a legislative act of 1810. 
The town records, to be found in the town clerk's office in a 
state of neglect, extend from 18 16, with a few breaks, to the 
present. They afford an excellent view of the range of the 
official action of the town authorities, and here and there they 
throw unexpected light upon the customs and circumstances 
of the people. Among these records the town census of 1828 
is a treasure, for it not only gives the number of inhabitants 
but also indicates the occupations of the people, and shows 
the number of slaves held by each family. 

The total population in 1828 is given at 1,599. Total 
whites, 831, of which 197 were males below 18 years of age; 
288 were males above 18 years, and 346 were females. Of 
male slaves under 18 years old there were 176; above 18 years, 
159; total male slaves, 335; female slaves, 413; total slaves, 
748; free persons of color, 20; of which 8 were males and 12 
females. 

Of 167 white families, 41 had no slaves; 12 had i each, 
17 had 2 each, 25 had 3 each, 9 had 4 each, 13 had 5 each, 10 
had 6 each, 11 had 7 each, 6 had 8 each, 5 had 9 each, 6 had 
10 each, 3 had 11 each, 2 had 12 each, 2 had 13 each, i had 
14, I had 15, I had 17, i had 18, i had 19, i had 21. 

Among the whites, 12 were attorneys, 6 physicians, 21 
merchants, 16 shopkeepers, 9 innkeepers, 21 printers, 26 
house carpenters, 2 joiners, 5 blacksmiths, 6 boot and shoe 
makers, 4 silversmiths and 8 tailors. 

The fact that the town was the State capital accounts for 
the large number of innkeepers and printers. The white 
households of the innkeepers were large, and they were, as a 
class, the largest .slaveholders in the town. They had slave- 
holdings of 5, 5, 6, 12, 12, 14, 17, 19 and 21, respectively. 
The printers, a few merchants and several attorneys also had 
relatively large numbers of slaves. But, of course, the great 
mass of the slaves was upon the plantations and beyond the 
reach of this census taker's inquiries. Eighty per cent, of the 
white families in the town had slaves for domestic service. 
John Marlow is listed with 3 white men and 7 slaves, all of 



whom were carpenters. James Camak had 6 slaves, among 
whom one or two are apparently listed as printers. William 
Y. Hansell had lo slaves, among whom one was a carpenter, 
one a blacksmith and one a cobbler. All free negroes are 
listed under the names of their white guardians. Their occu- 
pations are not stated. 

The census taker, who was also the town marshal, pos- 
sessed an inquisitive turn of mind. Though it was not set 
down in his instructions, he made jottings of fifteen prost-i 
tutes, all of whom appear to have been white women. Of 
course there was, in addition, a considerable number of occa- 
sional prostitutes among the negroes and mulattoes; but the 
police regulations over the slaves were too strict to permit any 
of them to be openly professionals. The large number of the 
women of the town was due to the residence of the host of 
legislators and other politicians in the town during the annual 
sessions of the General Assembly. 

The minutes of the corporation of Milledgeville extend 
through nearly the whole lifetime of the town. They contain 
a record of the enactment and the enforcement of town ordi- 
nances, and the conduct of the town's finances and general 
administration. Here and there the}' give glimpses of the 
course of public opinion. The following notes are illustra- 
tive: 

Iteyn, July 30, 1822. An ordinance, (i.) No slave may 
live off the lot inhabited by his owner or employer. (2.) 
No .slave may hire his own time from his master or contract to 
labor for any other person. (3.) No person of color may 
keep spirituous liquors for sale, and none may keep any horse, 
cow or hog for his own use. (4.) No free person of color 
may live in Milledgeville except with a guardian living in the 
town and a certificate of character and a bond for good be- 
havior. Not exceeding four washerwomen at one time shall 
be exempt from the provisions of this ordinance, and they 
only when specially licensed. 

Item, August 22, 1822. An ordinance. Articles (i) and 
(2) of the above ordinance of July 30 are suspended until De- 
cember 15 in the case of slaves provided with certificates of 
character and covered by bonds for good behavior. 



Itcin, February i, 1823. An ordinance for a patrol. Or- 
dered that the marshal divide the whole list of citizens sub- 
ject to patrol duty into thirty squads, and that each squad do 
patrol duty for one night in each month. Exemption from 
patrol duty maj^ be purchased at $6 per year. 

Item, March 22, 1S23. Fines of $1 each are imposed up- 
on fifteen citizens for failure to perform patrol duty. 

Item, January 7, 1824. Treasurer's report. Amount re- 
ceived in 1823 in fines for failure to do patrol duty, $40.50, 

Item, January 12, 1824. An ordinance repealing the above 
ordinance of Februar}' i, 1823. 

Item, January 31, 1831. An ordinance providing a new 
system of patrol. Ordered that the marshal and three sar- 
geants with salaries of $100 a year shall command the patrol 
in succession. Five citizens are to serve each night. The 
patrol is to continue from 9 p. m. to 3 a. m. Persons failing 
to patrol or furnish substitutes are subject to fine from $1 

to $5. 

Item, Februar}^ 2, 1825. An ordinance for organizing a 
town guard to replace the former patrol system. Citizens are 
permitted to volunteer and receive payment for services. The 
duty of the guard is to apprehend every slave between ten 
and sixty years of age found off his master's premises without 
a pass after the ringing of the market bell at night. Slaves 
apprehended are te be kept in the guard house till morning, 
and their owners notified. Each slave is to be released after 
twenty -five lashes on the bare back and the payment of $1 by 
the owner. 

7/^;;/, June 14, 1825. An ordinance amending the above 
ordinance by exempting slaves from whipping for the first 
offense. 

Item, April 22, 1S31. Ordered that the Secretary serve a 
citation on Edward Gary and that the Marshal be directed to 
bring before this board a negro slave named Nathan belonging 
to the said Gary, on Monday next, to answer the charge of 
assault and battery, on one of the patrol of the town and show 
cause why punishment should not be inflicted. 

Item, April 24, 1831. In response to the above citation, 
Edward Gary appeared without the negro. He alleged that 
Richard Mayhorn had violated the ordinance of the town by 



transcending his authority as a Patrol. The evidence of 
witnesses was introduced to substantiate Gary's statement. 
The Board ordered that Richard Mayhorn be discharged from 
the service of the corporation. 

Item, July 13, 1831. A patrol reported riotous conduct 
on the part of a negro named Hubbard, and charged Hubbard 
with cursing, assaulting and bruising Billy Woodliff, (a slave 
of Seaborn Jones ?) at the door of Billy's shop. Billy Wood- 
liff, being sworn, related how Hubbard abused and bruised 
him with a rock. Robert Mercer and Mr. Winter also testi- 
fied. The fact was brought to light that Hubbard's attack 
upon Billy had been brought about by Billy having taken 
Hubbard's wife away from him. "The testimony being con- 
cluded, Mr. Wiggins addressed the Board in a speech contain- 
ing some lengthy, strengthy and depthy argument. Whereupon 
the Board Ordered that the negro man Hubbard receive from 
the Marshal Ten lashes moderately laid on, and be dis- 
charged." 

Item, February 12, 1830. Whereas, the Board has re- 
ceived information that Elijah H. Burritt has violated the 
statute of the last Georgia legislature by the introduction of 
certain insurrectionary pamphlets, resolved that the town 
marshall be directed to enter his name as prosecutor in the 
case, and that this Board will pay all expenses necessary to 
bring the offender to punishment. 

Item, September 13, 1831. Ordered that the marshall 
and deputies use increased vigilence with regard to our black 
population, and particularly that they do not fail to visit every 
place at which there is an assembly of negroes, and in the 
event of religious meetings to treat them as the law directs 
for unlawful meetings, unless there is present at least one 
white person accepted by the church to which the society be- 
longs. 

The rise of the abolition agitation in the North in 1829 
and 1831, and the Nat Turner insurrection in Virginia, ac- 
count, of course, for the policy of the Board as indicated in 
the two items last noted above. 

Item, October 5, 1831. The negro man Nathan belonging 
to W. B. Hepburn, was brought before the board and exam- 
ined relative to a suspected insurrection among the blacks. 



Whereupon, after due consideratiou of all the circumstances, 
it was ordered that, as nothing criminal has been proved 
against him, he be immediately discharged. The yellow man 
Richard Rogers, a Preacher, was examined and likewise dis- 
charged. So also Aleck Reynolds, the Blacksmith, and Case- 
well, a blacksmith belonging to Peyton Pitts. The Board or- 
dered that, whereas, there has been considerable danger in the 
late excitement and alarm of an intention at insurrection, by 
firing guns "by persons carrying arms that were intoxicated," 
and by boys unable to bear arms, it be ordained that the mar- 
shall and patrols take away arms from intoxicated persons 
and boys and enforce the ordinance against firing arms in the 
streets. 

The examination of these negroes suspected of conspiracy 
in 1 83 1 and the trials of Nathan and Hubbard, noted above 
under dates of April 22 and 24 and July 13, 1831, appear to 
be the only instances recorded of negroes having been tried by 
the Milledgeville authorities for crimes or misdemeanors prior 
to the outbreak of the Civil War. 

Item, January 5, 1839. "On motion of Alderman Cook, 
Resolved, That the Marshal be and he is hereby required to 
pay over to the Council immediately after the passage of this 
Resolution, all monies received by him for superintending the 
Balls given by the colored people during the Christmas holi- 
days, and that he be instructed not to receive in future any 
compensation for such services. ' ' 

Item, December 19, 1839. Resolved, That the Board 
deem it improper to grant negroes the privilege of having balls 
at any other time than during the Christmas holidays, and 
then in the day time, and that no consent shall be granted ex- 
cept upon the application of the owners or guardians of the 
negroes. 

//<?;«, January 21, 1841. Resolved, Upon petition, that 
the band of musicians composed of colored persons be allowed 
to practise in the old theatre not later than 10 o'clock, unti 
further ordered by the board, provided they obtain the 
services of some suitable white person to accompany them. 

Item, July 15, 1841. An ordinance. It shall be the duty 
of the marshal and deputy to report any white person disturb- 
ing the peace. (Elsewhere the marshal and deputy are directed 



to patrol and prevent negro disturbances and to report and 
bring to trial all wliite persons breaking the peace. The repe- 
tition of this ordinance in July 1841 indicates that an element 
among the whites had become especially troublesome about 
that time.) 

Item, September 18, 1S54. The Board resolves that the 
petition before them asking the privilege for the negroes of 
the cit}^ of erecting a church for their separate use upon the 
lands of the city, cannot be entertained unless it be signed by 
a majority of the citizens of Milledgeville. 

Item^ January 10, 1840. The Board resolves to order the 
engraving of bills of the denominations of $3, $2, $r, $.50 
and $.25 to the total amount of $14,440. 

Item, April 2, 1840. The Change Bills have arrived from 
Washington to the amount of $7,357.50. The cost of en- 
graving is $200. 

Item, April 4, 1840. The Board resolves that these 
change bills be signed ujd and put into circulation as rapidly 
as possible, in exchange for bank notes. Ordered that no 
notes shall be issued unless a fund for their redemption is on 
hand equal to at least one-third of the amount proposed to be 
issued. 

In this period of financial depression in the cotton belt, 
bills of credit were issued by numerous town corporations. 
In the Soiithcru Recorder, January 16, 1842 (a newspaper 
printed at Milledgeville), a table of the rate of exchange is 
given. The notes of the Augusta Cit}- Council are quoted at 
par, while those of Columbus, Macon and Milledgeville are 
quoted at 15 per cent, discount. For Savannah scrip, 1840, 
see Thomas Gamble, Jr., History of the City Govei-mnent oj 
Savannah, Ga.,from lygo to igoi, pages 173-4. 

Item, February 23, 1841. "The Street Committee re- 
ported that they had hired for the present year the following 
named hands, from the persons whose names are thereunto 
annexed, viz. : 

Antoinette, of T. V. Greene, trustee % 100 00 

Isaac, of C. J. McDonald 150 00 

Monday &Sam, of M. J. Kenan 250 00 

Prince, Andrew & Prince, of Sarah Davis 375 00 

Henry & Bill, of Eninion Bails i 120 00 

Andrew, of I. S. Wright 120 00 

Joe, of James vSmith - 1 20 00 

$1,355 00 



"Ordered that notes be executed by the Mayor to the 
owners of said hands for the several amounts above stated." 

Item, January 2, 1840. Rations of negroes hired by the 
town of Milledgeville: Each week, one peck of meal, six 
pounds of bacon and one pint of molasses, in season. 

Mention is made here and there, also, of potatoes, rice 
and beef, seemingly for the negro hands. Corn was v/orth 
about 50 cents per bushel, bacon 13 cents per pound. The 
town fed, clothed and sheltered the negroes it hired. One 
pair pantaloons cost $3.00, one round jacket, $3 00; one 
shirt, $1.00; one pair shoes, $1.25 to $1.50. The support of 
the hands and four mules in 1840 cost $897.98. \^Mimttes, 
December J, i8^o.'\ 

The digest of taxes for 1859 gives a total of 335 taxpay- 
ers, of which eight were free negroes. One of these had 
property assessed at $440, and two others at $75 each. The 
remainder paid poll tax alone. The real estate was valued at 
$317,000 and the slaves at $318,600. Taxes were levied as 
follows: On white males between 18 and 45 years of age, a 
poll tax of $2.00; on white males between 16 and 18 and be- 
tween 45 and 60, a poll tax of $1.00; on free male persons of 
color, between 16 and 60, a poll tax of $10; on free female 
persons of color between 15 and 50, a poll tax of $5.00; on 
slaves between 10 and 60 years of age, 40 cents for every $100 
of the returned valuation ; on real estate and personal prop- 
erty, 40 cents on $100; on merchandise, 50 cents on $100; on 
money at interest, 30 cents on $100; on peddlers, 10 per' cent, 
of their sales; on liquor shops, $50 each; on billiard tables, 
$25 each; on bagatelle tables, $20 each; on ten-pin alleys, $25 
each; on bakers, $10 each; on forges, $10 each; on printing 
offices, $40 each; on bank agencies, $100 each. 

The cash book of the Town Treasurer has an entry under 
date of November 26, 1864: 

"By amount on hand, captured by the Yankees, $1,- 
082.30. 

Numerous entries show the depreciation of Confederate 
money; for instance, under date of March 3, 1863: 

"By amount paid for 8 candles, $8.00. By amount paid 
for pair of shoes, $35.00." 

The Record of the Police Court of Milledgeville, 1854 to 
1870, contains the records of some 480 misdemeanor cases 



10 

tried in the mayor's court. Of these none appear to have 
been against slaves or free persons of color before 1862. 

Item, February 15, 1862. "The State vs. Wm., a slave 
of Doct. G. D. Case. Disorderly & Disobedient Conduct. 
After hearing the testimony in the above case [it] is ordered 
and adjudged that Doct. G. D. Case pay the cost and that the 
boy William receive Ten lyashes by the hand of the Marshal, 
and then be discharged." 

Item, December 8, 1862. The State vs. Hamilton, a 
slave. Retailing spirituous liquors. Pleaded guilty. Sen- 
tenced to thirty-nine lashes. 

Item, May 14, 1864. The State vs. Viney, a slave. Us- 
ing opprobious and impudent language to a white person. 
Sentenced to thirty-nine lashes. 

Item, July 26, 1865. "The State vs. Jarratt (Freedman)." 
Petit larcen5^ Sentenced to ten days' imprisonment in the 
guard house, to be fed on bread and water. 

Item, August 17, 1865. "The State vs. Charles Harris 
(Freedman)." Malicious mischief. Sentenced to a fine of 
$25 or in default to be kept in jail until the meeting of the 
superior court. The sentence was commuted to the wearing 
of ball and chain and working on the streets for fifteen daj's. 

Item, August 28. 1865. The State vs. Anderson Mc- 
Comb, a freedman. Fighting. Sentenced to fine of ^5 or 
five days work on streets. 

Item, August 28, 1865. Three cases of vagrancy against 
freedmen. Sentenced each to five days work on the streets. 

Item, September 15, 1869, The State vs. Joseph Young, 
colored. Drunkenness. Sentenced to $5 fine or six days in 
jail. 

From 1865 the 1869 the court followed the custom of 
sentencing white persons to fine or imprisonment in jail, while 
it sentenced negroes to fine or labor in the chain gang on the 
streets. After 1869 that distinction apparently ceased to be 
made. 

For a complete view of the life of the community, the 
town records must be supplemented with the county archives, 
the state documents, the newspaper files, travelers' accounts, 
and private correspondence. 

The Ordinary's office in the court house at Milledgeville 
contains a valuable record on wills, inventories, appraisals 



11 

and sales of estates. From these we may gather that Jesse 
Sanford at his death in 1827 possessed 25 domestic servants 
besides 228 field hands distributed upon his six plantations, 
and that his personal property embraced mahogany furniture, 
silver plate and cut glass decanters. But we may learn on the 
other hand, that in dozens of cases a featherbed or two was 
inventoried as the most valuable item in the estate, aside from 
the lands, houses and slaves. For one great nabob there were 
scores or even hundreds of very plain farmers, shopkeepers 
and the like. 

The state archives contain a record of the routine affairs 
which were attended to in the capitol and the executive man- 
sion. The newspaper files, of which there are unusually good 
sets in Milledgeville, tell of the course of party politics, of the 
great speeches, the price of cotton, and the state of the crops. 
Their editorials and news items are supplemented by a great 
number of anonymous letters which give all sorts of views 
upon current questions. But as the years passed, there came 
to be one subject upon which unfavorable views were not 
printed. In the early period criticisms and expressions of dis- 
approval of slavery were fairly common ; but after the rise of 
the abolition agitation opinions of that sort were no longer 
published. This silence was eloquent — and sinister. 

The purpose of this rambling article has been partly to 
give a glimpse of conditions as shown by the indisputable 
sources, but mainly to indicate that the materials exist for a 
complete political, social and economic history of any given 
community and of the South as a whole. The material can 
be discovered only by diligent search, and it can be wrought 
into history only by intelligent and persevering interpretative 
.study. The difficulty of the work has heretofore prevented 
its accomplishment upon any large scale, but the rewards 
awaiting the patriotic historian who sets forth the clear and 
convincing truth about the South will be great enough to blot 
out the memory of his tedious labor.* 

*There has just appeared from the press of McGowan & Cooke, of 
Chattanooga, a volume of Memoi) s of the Fort and Fannin Families^ 
edited by Kate Haynes Fort. This book contains an excellent biogra- 
phy of Dr. Tomlinson Fort, long a prominent citizen of Milledgeville, 
and gives a good account of family life in the community. As an accu- 
rate and attractive history of a typical well-to-do family, it is a valuable 
contribution to the social history of the South. 




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